Tag Archives: FISA

Nadler Okay with Letting FISA Expire

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by Daveda Gruber:

Jerrold Nadler D-N,Y., who is the Chairman of the  House Judiciary Committee, is willing to let the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) expire.

Nadler canceled Wednesday’s hearing on reforming a FISA bill because Democrats are divided on the issues at hand. The legislation was expected to pass the Judiciary Committee but lawmakers can’t agree on how to reauthorized the program. Essentially, it would expire in ten days, which would fall on March 15th.

Nadler favors a major overhaul to the surveillance program and is the product of talks between Nadler and Representative Adam Schiff D-CA.

The surveillance program gives the government authority to wiretap and electronically skim information between foreign entities and those inside the U.S. which would be in the interest of national security.

Inspector General (IG) Michael Horowitz reported errors and flaws which occurred in the application in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) to eavesdrop or spy on former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. This was an integral part of the FBI’s Russia investigation.

Concerns about FISA is shared with Republicans and Democrats. Alleged abuses were uncovered in the Russia investigation and to make matters worse, the Trump administration is struggling to fill a vacancy for a new director of National Intelligence.

President Trump has gone out on a limb and criticized government intelligence agencies and  accused them of abusing their authority in an effort to spy on political opponents. He has demanded major reforms before he will pass a reauthorization.

Not reaching a conclusion on the issues would interrupt surveillance operations conducted by the FBI and the National Security Agency (NSA).

Democrats have been accused by Republicans who are advocating for changes, of tabling  discussions in an attempt to prevent changes from being made.

Republicans are divided on this, as well. There are some who want to renew FISA with minimal changes and then later on tackle significant reforms.

The Senator from Kentucky, Rand Paul R-Ky., is one who opposes FISA but he has opposition from Attorney General William Barr and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Personally, I don’t like the idea of Americans being under surveillance but I do like that foreigners can be surveyed.

This issue always takes me backed to September 11, 2001. What if we had surveyed the terrorists? Could that have stopped the attack on the Twin Towers? I’m not certain of the answer to my own question but I don’t want to give up my freedom. But if my own phone records and whereabouts could have stopped so many untimely deaths and the aftermath health issues, would it be worth it?

I’ll let my readers answer. Would you give up what you had in freedom rights to insure that foreigners could be spied upon?

 

 

What Did the FISA Report Show?

 
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by Daveda Gruber:

On Monday the inspector general for the Justice Department finally released the internal review concerning the origins of the Russia investigation.

The report concluded that there was no intentional misconduct or political bias surrounding efforts to seek a highly controversial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant found by investigators. The warrant was, in fact, to monitor former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

Page was observed during the months at the start of the Russia investigation dealing with election interference.

At least 17 significant errors were found by the IG probe and a new audit into the FISA process and procedures will be launched.

The report, which is nearly 500 pages, said, “We did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced the FBI’s decision to seek FISA authority on Carter Page.”

The unverified dossier that was compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele was undoubtedly anti-Trump but former FBI bosses James Comey and Andrew McCabe were shown as not acting with political bias.

Even the overall surveillance efforts targeting Page to secure the original FISA warrant for him in October 2016, were shown to have no bias, as reported by IG Michael Horowitz and his investigators.

Representative Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and the Republicans have contested the FISA warrant and the subsequent renewal applications. They claim that the FBI misrepresented key evidence and omitted exculpatory information used to support the warrant application came from the dossier compiled by Steele, who the Horowitz team has questioned why the FBI considered him to be a credible source.

The question of why news reports were used to make Steele look more credible was also brought to the FBI.

The Inspector General claims that his team has reviewed over one million records and has conducted over 100 interviews, including several witnesses who agreed to be interviewed just recently.

Page, who has been investigated as a foreign agent, has been vocal about his belief that he was unjustly targeted and not interviewed for the Horowitz probe and never charged with a crime.

Horowitz is scheduled to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday morning to answer questions about his probe.

This investigation is over as far as Horowitz is concerned but Barr has assigned the U.S. attorney for Connecticut, John Durham, to conduct an inquiry into alleged misconduct and alleged improper government surveillance, which are criminal in nature, on the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election.

At this time, former Deputy Director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe, has been criticized by Horowitz in a separate inquiry for statements that were made by McCabe during a Hillary Clinton related investigation of which he has maintained no wrong doing and has not been indicted but he is facing possible federal charges.